THE BLIND MEN AND THE

ELEPHANT

Six blind men stood by the roadside and waited for

the elephant parade. They had often heard of
elephants, but they had never seen one as they were
blind. A little later, an elephant was driven down the
road where they stood. When they were told that the
great beast was before them, they asked the driver to
let him stop so that they might see him. Of course,
they could not see him with their eyes, but they
thought that by touching him they could learn just
what kind of animal he was. The first one happened to
put his hand on the elephant's side. “Well, well!” he
said, “Now I know all about this beast. He is exactly
like a wall.” The second felt only of the elephant's
tusk. “My brother,” he said, “You are mistaken. He is
not at all like a wall. He is round and smooth and
sharp. He is more like a spear than anything else.”
The third happened to take hold of the elephant's
trunk. “Both of you are wrong,” he said. “Anybody
who knows anything can see that this elephant is like
a snake.
 THE BLIND MEN AND THE
ELEPHANT
” The fourth reached out his arms and grasped one
of the elephant's legs. “Oh, how blind you are,” he
said. “It is very plain to me that he is round and tall like
a tree.”
The fifth was a very tall man, and he chanced to
take hold of the elephant's ear. “The blindest man
ought to know that this beast is not like any of the
things that you name,” he said. “He is exactly like a
huge fan.” The sixth blind man seized the animal's tail.
“Oh foolish fellows,” he cried, “you surely have lost
your senses. This elephant is not like a wall or a spear
or a snake or a tree, nor is he like a fan. Any man with
any sense can see that he is exactly like a rope.
Then the elephant moved on, and the six blind men
sat by the roadside all day and quarreled about him.
Each believed that he knew just how the animal
looked, and each called the others unkind names
because they did not agree with each other. People
who have sight sometimes act just as foolishly
Questions:
1. Why were the blind men on the roadside?
2. What does the elephant’s ear feel like to one
of the men?
3. How do the blind men treat one another?
4. What does this passage try to teach us?